Stereo types of Italy, from an English/Australian point of view would be things like Pizza, Pasta, the Roman Empire, hand movements when talking.

English Stereo types would be bad food, British Empire, driving on the wrong side of the road . Australian stereo types are probable, Booomerangs Kangaroos, people saying Streuth and Sheila and there are probably loads more.

Maybe a better rule would be "Yes you can use stereo types, but it must contain at least one thing that others would not generally know".

Cultures are more than stereo types so it would be good for all of use to know more about these things.